


free kurt - elliott style

by kurtsiehummel



Category: Glee
Genre: (with blaine), Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst with a Happy Ending, Break Up, Friends to Lovers, M/M, Minor Blaine Anderson/Kurt Hummel, Not Blaine or Klaine Friendly, Pre-Relationship, Slow Burn, but note this is more focused on kurt's personal growth, free kurt, re: kurt and elliot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-06
Updated: 2020-08-06
Packaged: 2021-03-06 07:55:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,476
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25739941
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kurtsiehummel/pseuds/kurtsiehummel
Summary: or, the one where kurt saves himself, and elliott puts in a helping hand;or, kurt hummel's guide to the five stages of grieving blaine anderson.
Relationships: Elliott "Starchild" Gilbert/Kurt Hummel
Comments: 35
Kudos: 159
Collections: Free Kurt Challenge August 2020





	free kurt - elliott style

**Author's Note:**

> for the elle_delajoie's free kurt event: write a story using any glee character to prevent kurt from saying “yes” to blaine’s proposal. hope you like my spin on it.

Kurt’s standing on the Dalton Academy staircase – the place where it all began. He can remember it like yesterday – how his anger at Glee guys’ dismissal, his lingering fear of Karofsky, and his confusion at his surroundings melted into nothing the moment he gazed into the Dalton boy’s eyes.

It’s been three years now, and the Dalton boy is asking him to marry him. Three years ago, he wouldn’t have hesitated to say, “I do.”

But Kurt isn’t sixteen anymore. And as he gazes into the confetti strewn, hopeful-faced crowd, he knows that his decision is long overdue.

**six months ago**

**denial**

When Blaine tells him what he did just two weeks after Kurt moved to New York, there is a period of time where he refuses to believe it.

Two days after Blaine’s admission, Rachel finds Kurt sprawled on a hard plastic chair outside his bedroom.

“He’s going to come back to me. He’s going to say it wasn’t true,” he says, dazedly staring at the door.

But Blaine doesn’t come. And Kurt realises that this really is happening.

**anger**

Rachel drags him to a NYU party because he “desperately needs to get laid.” Apparently, he’s “made a habit of sulkily glaring at the breakfast cereal box like he wants to set it on fire.”

“Blaine loved breakfast,” he’d hissed in response, and Rachel had only dragged him outside harder.

He lets a cute boy make him a drink, but the night doesn’t go the way either were expecting.

“This party would suit my ex just fine. He always gets so indiscriminate in the choosing of his sexual partners, especially when drunk.” He’s been alternately ranting and drinking for the past half hour, and now he's slurring his words and gesturing wildly. The cute boy is looking terrified.

He hears a crunch and hazily notices that he’s crushed his solo cup in his fist.

When he’s dragged out of the party by a furious Rachel, he wonders if he’ll stop being so angry all the time if he punches Blaine really hard. He passes out before he can think of an answer.

**bargaining**

“Maybe if I completely reinvent myself, Blaine and I can be okay again.”

The cute boy - whose name is actually Elliott - is hanging out in Kurt’s room. Apparently, he was concerned about Kurt after the outburst in the party and got his number to check in on him. Rachel thinks it’s more than that, but Kurt ignores her like he usually does.

Having hung out with Kurt several times since, Elliott doesn’t look terrified anymore, but he does look amused.

“Didn’t you say he cheated on you? After you spent two weeks apart?”

Kurt nods, still rifling through his wardrobe.

“And you want to get back together with him?”

Kurt sighs. “Well... I think so. Keep up Elliott.”

Elliott chuckles and, after a clatter in the kitchen, walks up to Kurt. “Do you like this mug?” he asks, holding out a gaudy kitten print cup.

“Ew no. That’s Rachel’s.”

Elliott promptly smashes the mug against Kurt’s bedside drawer. The kitten’s face splits into two.

“Elliott, what –“ Kurt shouts but Elliott shushes him and picks up the shards. He slots the pieces back into place, producing a deformed kitten with gruesome-looking cracks running through its body.

“Once it’s been broken, is it possible to completely fix it? Even if you use super glue, will it ever look the same again?”

“No! Because you broke it! How am I supposed to explain this to Rachel? She’s going to get even more annoying –“

“Okay, stop talking about Rachel, Kurt. Even if you melt the ceramic down and mold it into the shape it was, this mug will never be the same again." Elliott stares at him intently. "And neither will your relationship with Blaine.”

Kurt only looks even more incredulous. “Did you just compare my love life to a mug?”

“Ok so the metaphor is a little reductive, but I had to get the message across. You're planning on changing yourself for him!”

Kurt bites his lip.

Elliott continues, his tone softer now. “You’ll never get back that trust you had. Trust me. I’ve been here before.”

After a long pause, Kurt shakes his head and starts wrapping a scarf around his neck. “Come on Elliott, we’re going shopping.”

Elliott groans. “Kurt –“

“Not for clothes.” Elliott lifts his face from his hands to see Kurt smirking at him. “For a new mug. You’re paying.”

“I wasn’t actually going to change myself,” Kurt admits when they get home. “I was just... grasping at straws. Wondering if one thing had been different, would everything be different?”

Elliott smiles. “What he did wasn’t your fault.”

Kurt nods. “I know.”

**depression**

Kurt wants to scream. His heart is feeling a little like Rachel’s mug, splintering and fragile, despite spending the last few months desperately trying to mend it.

“C’mon Kurt pick a radio station.”

“I’m trying,” Kurt huffs as he turns the dial for the third time.

_“You make me feel like I’m living a teenage dream –“_ plays before Kurt abruptly mutes it. His heart fractures just that little bit more.

Elliott groans. “I’m taking over.”

He reaches over and turns it to alternative. The radio crackles. _“Blow the candles out, looks like a solo –“_

“No.”

“Kurt what’s wrong with Hey Monday?”

There’s silence in the car. Kurt slouches further down in his seat and hopes desperately that Elliott won’t pry. But Elliott always seems to know what he’s feeling.

“This is about Blaine, isn’t it.” It isn’t a question.

Kurt sighs, but nods in defeat. “He sang Teenage Dream the day we met, and the day we broke up. We sang Candles together at show choir Regionals.”

Elliott simply nods. “Okay. Well, at least one of these stations has to be playing a song that he didn’t ruin for you.”

He turns the dial. The speaker blares. _“It’s not right, but it’s okay, I’m gonna –“_

“No.”

The click of the dial. _“Pretty pretty please, don’t you ever feel –“_

“God no.”

Elliott suddenly pulls over. Kurt can only stare as Elliott grabs his guitar from the backseat before re-joining him. “Elliott, what –“

“You have a lot of musical memories with Blaine, and that’s not a bad thing,” Elliott explains, fitting the guitar strap over his head. “He was a part of your life, and he’s going to be a part of your memories. But it seems like what you need to move on is to make new ones, with new people in them. So, I’m going to help.”

Kurt doesn’t know why his heart is fluttering as Elliott smiles at him, but he likes the way it feels. “No, Elliott, you don’t have to,“ he protests even as he blushes.

Elliott grins as his fingers pluck at the strings. _“The day I first met you, you told me you never fall in love. But now that I get you, I know fear is what it really was.”_

Kurt doesn’t know how he’s never noticed just how beautiful Elliott’s eyes are.

_“Don't wanna break your heart, wanna give your heart a break… I know you’re scared it's wrong like you might make a mistake.”_ Kurt’s never heard Elliott sing like this before – stripped back, crooning, raw.

Elliott searches Kurt’s eyes as he continues, every note sounding like it’s being drawn from his soul. _“There's just one life to live and there's no time to wait to waste so let me give your heart a break."_

Kurt claps as Elliott finishes. “That was amazing,” he gushes. “Consider yourself successful. A new memory has been made.”

Elliott’s grinning now. “I aim to please.” They lock eyes for a moment, before Elliott clears his throat and looks away, face surprisingly flushed.

Kurt finds himself listening to Demi Lovato through the car ride and doesn’t flinch when he accidentally plays some Katy Perry.

**acceptance**

Blaine is on one knee, holding out a polished platinum band. Kurt wonders if his knees hurt from keeping that position for so long, but realistically, he knows it’s only been a few seconds.

“Kurt?” Blaine’s eyes are wide and beautiful and filled with so much hope, and his chest twinges the smallest bit. His was not the only heart broken that fateful New York night.

But Kurt knows that he owes it to himself to let him go.

“Blaine, I can’t marry you.”

The shock and heartbreak is plain on Blaine’s face, and Kurt has to turn away. He might be over his ex, but there’s a part of him that will always care about him. His first everything, and it’s over.

He shoves his way through the throng of surprised, indignant faces. At his car, he hits one on speed dial.

“Kurt?”

“Elliott,” he sighs, and the first time since coming back to Lima, he can finally breathe.

**Author's Note:**

> this was difficult to write. i drafted this several times in different perspectives and time periods until i settled on the only one that felt right. this is also the longest fic i've ever written!! which still isn't very long... 
> 
> for me, it was very important that kurt was the one who "freed" himself. i didn't want anyone to talk him in or out of anything - i wanted it to be wholly his decision and for it to be the natural end product of his growth and maturity. for him to be able to recognise that this relationship was broken, though, i needed him to go through the process of alternately wanting blaine back, hating him, and feeling sad about him before he could finally, truly, let him go. i needed for him to feel at **peace** instead of angry or resentful. for him to have the courage to say no, and mean it, in front of all these people.
> 
> i usually write kurtbastian, but i love adam lambert and elliott, so this was an interesting one to try. if you're wondering why they didn't get together (yet), it's because i wanted kurt to say no for himself. not because of someone else. 
> 
> i wrote this while making gifsets of the flash - recognise the mug that represents a broken timeline? - and listening to taylor swift's folklore - did you spot the reference to the 1?
> 
> side note: my english teacher always said "write ONE moment in time" and it makes sense that when i have the freedom to decide, i write in five vignettes...........rebellion whoo
> 
> also songs used: teenage dream - katy perry, candles - hey monday, it's not right but it's okay - whitney houston, perfect - p!nk, give your heart a break - demi lovato
> 
> anyway, if you've read any of my works before, you know i appreciate kudos and comments - especially comments. nothing beats reading what you guys think. yay external validation!! and i am really proud of this one :D also [give me a follow on tumblr!](https://kurtsiehummel.tumblr.com/) i will love you forever <3
> 
> btw i am still working on the sequel to after him, and the rest of your prompts! i have not forgotten about you :) and you can subscribe to me on ao3 for updates. also this is the longest a/n ever so thanks for reading!!


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